So we decided to have a Symposium at our house on Saturday. We gave everyone two months notice, and everyone seemed really enthusiastic, but I was still more than I little worried. The idea of inviting people over just to talk, and to have a pre-determined topic of conversation, and to even ask people to prepare things in advance... Well, that's weird.
A yer or so ago we invited our friends Jennifer and Damien over to read Beowulf. We spent an hour or so just chatting, and then I finally brought the subject around to Hrothgar et al. I read five or ten pages in my most Skaldish voice, and passed the book to Katya. She read five or ten pages (she reads aloud _very_ well). Then Damien made an honest attempt at two or three pages, and the Jennifer said that she was really tired, and they went home. We were too weird for them. These people, mind you, are avant-garde puppet artists in Chicago... -sigh-
So I was worried that my friends might be underwhelmed by this whole Discussion of Love business. We got especially concerned when 8:30 rolled around and there was no sign of a guest. Not to worry, however, everything went _really_ well. People finally started coming in around 9:00. We had a brief discussion about God and Atheism, and then we talked about Love for four hours.
I read my prepared essay. Dean read from C.S. Lewis. Adam Safron announced that he was boycotting love (to which Jonathan Cohen, one of the wittier people I know, replied, "Isn't that like penguins boycotting hot air ballooning?"). Hannah performed a song that she had composed for the occaision (about how her ex-lovers always winder up stealing her pants), and Adam talked about wanting to find a nice hedonist girl.
Another friend asked whether we thought it was ok for him to pay a particular nude model to pose for him, even though he doesn't know how to draw. Opinions were split.
At any event, it was a great discussion. Over the course of the evening we talked about the interactions of the different types of love, we talked about the origin of the verb "to testify" and whether hedgehogs mate face to face. It was great.

About the food: I made hummus, and Katya made focacia (from scratch, with onions and olives on it) and vegan miso pate (wonderful, if salty) and steamed asparagus (which I didn't think I'd like, but did) and really good popcorn. Meg and Jonathan brought home-made cookies, and we also had grapes and blood oranges, and brie and crackers and baklava and pita bread. And wine. Lots and lots of wine.
Hurrah!